Kendra Chamberlain

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Acting Chief Neil Jacobs told the House Subcommittee on the Environment that 5G deployments using 24 GHz spectrum could negatively impact weather forecasting. Use of 24 GHz spectrum for mobile 5G could reduce the accuracy of weather forecasts by 30%, sending us back in time to the 1980s. Meteorologists use sensors to detect faint radio frequency signals emitted by atmospheric conditions. Meteorological satellites monitor various frequencies to collect data and predict weather.

The climate for municipal broadband has worsened significantly since our last report in 2018. There are now 26 states with laws on the books that either roadblock or ban outright municipally-owned broadband networks. These laws — some of them passed just last year — point to a growing tension between state lawmakers and municipal, county and local governments, whose interests seem often at odds with one another. The telecom industry’s lobbying efforts have had tangible ramifications on state laws governing municipal broadband.

T-Mobile is launching a pilot home broadband service to a small group of its wireless subscribers. The invitation-only pilot will connect around 50,000 homes of subscribers to a fixed wireless access service on T-Mobile’s LTE network. The company said it’s targeting rural and underserved areas of the country and expects to be able to deliver 50 Mbps to residents. The service will cost $50 per month to subscribers who sign up for autopay, and will be free of data caps, annual service contracts, or equipment costs. 

AT&T and Comcast said that they can authenticate calls made between the two different phone providers' networks, a potential industry first and the latest in the long-running battle against spam calls. AT&T and Comcast have successfully completed a real-world call authentication test using the STIR/SHAKEN protocols across landline networks. The STIR/SHAKEN protocols were developed by industry groups ATIS and SIP Forum to tackle the issue of phone spamming and robocalls. The protocols use digital certificates to ensure the incoming phone number is coming from the proper device.

The Federal Communications Commission admitted in court that its Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) does not track where comments submitted to the system originate. The filing is part of a lawsuit the FCC is facing from The New York Times. The New York Times, Washington Post, BuzzFeed and Gizmodo have been investigating claims about fake/mass-generated comments since 2017, when the FCC began collecting public comments on its proposed repeal of the Title II designation for broadband.

Portland (OR) is suing the Federal Communications Commission for its wireless pre-emption order, which went into effect in Jan 2019 and limits local government authority to regulate how 5G small cell equipment is deployed. In Sept 2018, the FCC passed a wireless pre-emption order that it says will help streamline 5G small cell deployments and ensure that wireless carriers have low-cost access to public rights of way and existing support structures such as city-owned utility poles and street lights.

A new report from Cowen declares Verizon as a fiber giant, well positioned to leverage its fiber holdings for its future fixed wireless and 5G plans.

The Federal Communications Commission has released a detailed map of eligibility for its Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) auction, designed to help bring 4G LTE service to rural areas. The map indicates which areas of the country are “presumed eligible” for the MF-II auction. Most of the eligibility is dispersed throughout the western half of the US. States with the most coverage -- indicating areas with less access to 4G LTE -- include North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.